Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen warms up prior to a game against the Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, September 16, 2018 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Suggesting Josh Rosen’s welcome to the NFL quarterback club has been rude is understating his situation.

He has been sacked 35 times.

This does not count the times he has been mugged in the act of passing.

He has thrown 14 interceptions against a mere 10 touchdowns.

This is what happens when you have the disadvantage of spending your rookie season with the Arizona Cardinals, who at 3-11 are neck and neck with Oakland’s lame-duck Raiders for the worst record in the league.

Jared Goff can commiserate. His NFL baptism-by-fire was two years ago with the pre-Sean McVay Rams when they stumbled to a 4-12 record.

Based on how things looked until December, the assumption would have been that with two games to go before the playoffs the Rams would be on cruise control. Unfortunately, both for them and presumably for the Cardinals, they mucked things up with back-to-back defeats in the past two weeks, which means the assumption now is Aaron Donald and defensive associates will be turned loose as they seek to reclaim their mojo.

Sorry about that, Josh. You could be in for a long Sunday afternoon in the desert.

So it goes for the young man who grew up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Manhattan Beach, somehow found his way to St. John Bosco High in Bellflower (that’s a polite way of avoiding saying he was recruited at the age of 15) and polished his game for two years at UCLA.

Because he comes from a privileged background, Rosen has been typecast as soft, entitled, cannot blend in on a football team.

This was disputed by teammates at UCLA. Uchenna Nwosu, the former USC star from Narbonne High now a rookie linebacker for the Chargers, joined the chorus.

“He was a great quarterback (as a Bruin),” said Nwosu, who played with a pretty good one by the name of Sam Darnold as a Trojan undergraduate.

“They (the Cardinals) believe in him,” Nwosu said. “That’s why they have him out there.”

“He is very calm, very poised,” Nwosu said. “He doesn’t get frustrated.”

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Rosen also made a good impression during the postgame inquisition, answering questions without sign of annoyance after the beatdown in which he passed for a pedestrian 105 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Asked what happened, he said, without blinking, “I think you have to give credit to the Chargers. They started making plays.”

As has been mentioned more than a few times since the days of George Halas, the other guys do play the game.

Also, as some thin-skinned players need to be reminded, the reporters are only doing their jobs with the probing.

Rosen was asked if he saw what the Chargers were doing to shut down the Arizona offense and about finding a way to stop it.

It was not a mystery.

“We just can’t stay behind the sticks,” he said.

You can’t be ineffective on first and second down and expect magic to happen repeatedly on third down.

“There is only so much you can do on third-and-long,” he said. “The key is to be successful on the early plays.”

Rosen did not spare himself.

“I’ve got to make better reads and be more decisive on certain things,” he said.

It does not have to be complicated.

“It’s not much schematically,” he said. “A lot of it is we’ve just got to play better. Just take the obvious. Guys are playing for their jobs. But on a larger scale than that, we’re just trying to play respectable football.

“It’s like a competition within your gut. We can’t be proud of the product we’ve put on the field. We’re going to go week by week and try to play our best. There aren’t any other options.”

Spoken like a mature veteran of the NFL wars.

Clearing out the mini-notebook

How the NBA turns: The soap opera started when LeBron James said it would be amazing to play with Anthony Davis of the Pelicans. It continued Friday morning when Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said James was tampering. Gentry turned to humor before playing the Lakers Friday night, when asked about Rajon Rondo. “I can’t talk about him,” he said. “He’s under contract.” …

Etc.: Gentry shrugged it all off before the game when asked again about what James said, this time noting, “He was asked a question and he answered it … now everybody says he’s tampering … of course he would (want to play with Davis). Who wouldn’t? …

Bottom line: Retention of Tim Drevno as USC line coach could be a sign the Trojans will be about more than finesse on offense. The former South Torrance High, El Camino College and Fullerton lineman has 14 years of experience coaching under Jim Harbaugh, a noted practitioner of smash-mouth football.